Trendspotting

It's that time of year again when our "live music capital of the world" (Austin, TX) decides to multitask and become the temporary epicenter of all things film, music and digital. Being based downtown, we welcome the SXSW visitors to our neighborhood and can't wait to get out and mingle with some of the best, brightest and most innovative companies in the industry.

Trendstream, the UK-based digital consultancy, has released its 2011 Web Index, available here. It provides a thoroughly interesting, in-depth look at the evolution of social media engagement that observes a growing trend toward social networks and users as qualifiers and distributors of "professional" content, with individual content creation on the decline. I wanted to take a minute to point out one thing that really jumped out at me.

If you pride yourself on snagging the best deals, be sure to check out, or rather "in," to your favorite brands. "Checking in" is no longer restricted to physical locations. Today, people are checking into their favorite books, movies and of course brands. It's just another way to define yourself via the web or your phone.

A recent Pew study on internet usage by age paints an interesting picture. A few of the key findings:

The age gap, where millennial usage far exceeds that of other groups that were identified in 2009, seems to be shrinking.

Email and search still reign supreme, so for those of us who predicted email was dying, perhaps we shouldn't be editing its obituary just yet.

Depending on just how old you are, that friend request from mom or grandpa isn't a fluke. The 74+ age group represents the fastest growing segment of social media users, quadrupling since 2008.

While traditional blogging seems to be undergoing a redefinition based on the emergence of Twitter, Facebook status updates and the like, the emergence of video represents perhaps the biggest shift in content choice, rising 14% in adult internet usage.

This infographic from Pew outlines the key findings. The complete study can be found here.

App of the Day has broken down the current iOS app landscape. I was pleased to learn books beat out games as the top category for apps in Apple’s marketplace. However, I was not surprised to learn 85% of apps are for the iPhone. Check out some of the other interesting stats on Mashable:

The people over at App of the Day have crunched the numbers and, using data available from Apple and other sources, have broken down the iOS app landscape. They have also created an elegant infographic to visualize the data. Some of the results might surprise you.

“Using a variety of sources including Apple’s RSS feeds and search APIs, we put together a collection of data that we then analyzed to produce the infographic,” founder Jordan Satok explained to us.

According to App of the Day’s analysis, 67% of applications in the App Store are paid apps, and 50% of all apps (not just paid applications) cost less than $3.00. The vast majority of these apps are for the iPhone — a whopping 85% are iPhone-only, while another 8% are “universal” apps for iPad and iPhone

We are approaching the close of 2010, and we've seen a lot. Luckily for those of us with short memories, Google and Twitter have created microsites so we can re-live the year's top topics. Google's site shows the top searches and Twitter's shows the top trending topics of 2010.

The most searched topics in the United States on Google in 2010 were:

iPad

Chatroulette

iPhone 4

World Cup

Justin Bieber

Myxer

Facebook

Groovseshark

Glee

Mocospace

There are certainly some surprises in that list. Overall, products and services are searched most often. Apple dominated with two of the top three searches. Of the list, only the World Cup was an event, and even it could be classified as an entertainment service.

The impact of social media on how business is run is just starting to mainstream in corporate America. I'm not talking about online promotional campaigns; I'm taking about the very heart of how business is conducted.

The consequence is a redefinition and reframing of how a company and its various stakeholders relate to one another and the impact each has on one another.

Call it “The Engaged Enterprise.” Engagement is the new currency. It suggests an authentic, dynamic, deeper relationship in which conversation and business ideas are shared up, down, and sideways.

In the Engaged Enterprise, stakeholders have deeper relationships with the company. Stakeholders actually talk to one another. Their voices are heard, respected, even acted upon in exchange for their loyalty. The result: The enterprise is smarter and more engaged with their constituents leading to better decisions and deeper, longer-lasting relationships.

Jon Iwata, SVP of communications and marketing at IBM, gave the following speech on the future of the communications profession at the November 4th 2009 Institute for Public Relations Distinguished Lecture Series at the Yale Club in New York City. If you weren't at the event, you should check it out; it's a compelling read for anyone keeping their finger on the pulse of the PR profession.

“Toward a New Profession: Brand, Constituency and Eminence on the Global Commons”

Good evening, everyone.

I am honored by the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I have long appreciated the research and education work of the Institute for Public Relations. And when I think about those who have preceded me at this podium over the years, I am humbled.

As anyone does who is invited to step up to this podium, I went back and read a number of the speeches of those who have appeared here over the past 10 to 15 years. And what struck me was that they were all, in one way or another, talking about the same thing: a fundamental shift in the world, in the nature and status of organizations and of business itself, and of the implications of all of that for our profession.